[trompetenaccoun]

It's Indian street food so I'd say what you describe is the optimistic scenario. Worst case it's an industrial product of sorts, produced backyard factories. South Asia has a huge variety of culinary plants and snacks, some of which are unknown even to locals, especially if it's a regional thing. But that no one would know and no one wants to talk about what it is, that's highly suspicious.

It's really sad, China and India have among the best food in the world but they also have among the worst food safety record. Almost anything can be faked or adulterated for profit, from cooking oil that makes people go blind to instant baby formula that kills the infants.